


In The Bright Midsummer

by schrodingurl



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: F/M, I just really wanted to write about young tommy meeting greta, I'll be adding tags as i write, Pre-War, Slow Burn, not sure how far this'll go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 12:54:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13388235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schrodingurl/pseuds/schrodingurl
Summary: How Tommy met Greta, and how he turned into the man who wanted to change the world.





	In The Bright Midsummer

**Author's Note:**

> not beta'd
> 
> [According to the fandom wiki Tommy was born in 1890, so he'd be 22. I imagine Greta died around 1914, at the age of 19, so she's about to turn 18]

Tommy shut the front door with a loud bang. He was livid, barely registering the cold quickly seeping through his bones.

How could they be so stupid? Ada was still a kid, and she was the only one smart enough to have left to her bedroom, tired of listening the same old lies again and again. John wasn’t that much older than her, but fuck, if he was old enough to be already bringing children into the world, he certainly should know better.

And Arthur. His big brother. The one he’d always looked up to. Someone had told him once, a boy becomes a man when he realizes his father is just as flawed as anybody else. Tommy had laughed, knowing that wouldn’t be his case, otherwise he would’ve been a man at the tender age of eleven. Apparently, for Tommy it was Arthur, as he’d been accepting for a couple of years now.

Everytime their piece of shit dad walked through the door, Arthur’s eyes lit up. Tommy could almost see the pretty little picture behind Arthur’s sorry eyes. Dad will stay this time. Dad will be here for us. Everything will be fine now. What a load of bullshit.

By the time he focused on where he was going he was already nearing Charlie’s yard. Hugging his coat, seeing his breath cut the cold air, Tommy just kept walking. His jaw hurt, he feared he might break his bones if he clenched any harder.

As he entered the yard, Charlie’s laugh snapped him back to reality. The whole world didn’t revolve around that stranger of a man who’d entered his home. He took a deep breath and approached his uncle.

“Tommy! Tommy, tell Charlie about the run this morning, tell him!” Curly smiled, almost shouting.

Charlie turned towards him, his smile lessening at the sight of him. He must’ve heard Arthur Sr. was in town. Not saying anything, he slid on the bench giving him a place to sit and handed him his bottle of beer.

“How fast was him, Tom, tell him!” Curly smiled.

Tommy sat, dismissing Curly, who didn’t seem to mind.

“It’s late, Tommy” was all he said.

After a few seconds of Tommy silently staring to his own feet, Curly decided to go talk to the two horses in the back, surely he’d have more fun.

“I don’t understand-”

“Drink.”

That was how it went with Charlie. He knew his moods, and refused to listen to him whine about daddy’s miseries until he was calm, relaxed and had at least a drink on him.

Tommy obeyed, letting himself raise his eyes to the fire in front of them.

Minutes passed, and Charlie handed him a second bottle of bitter warm beer.

“He’ll be gone soon” was the only solace he could offer.

Tommy unclenched his jax and exhaled.

“And who’s gonna pick up the fucking pieces this time, ei?”

“They have to learn to deal with him. That bastard is hard to kill, probably’ll be ‘round for a long time”

Tommy let out a sad chuckle. Putting a cigarette between his lips, realizing he’d left his matches at home, Charlie handed him one before he could ask.

“Finn didn’t even know who he was” he said, taking a drag, looking at Charlie in the eye for the first time since he arrived. “But oh, then Arthur told him and you should’ve seen his face. Like it was fucking Father Christmas.”

“Finn’s just a kid”

“Yeah, he is. He’s a fucking kid. And he wasn’t around for him. We were the ones who wiped the shit from his ass, who put him to sleep every fucking night. Polly and Arthur and I are more his father than he could ever be.”

Charlie just nodded, letting him vent.

“And Arthur. The bloody fool. How can he just welcome him into the house? He should be the one kicking his ass to the curve! He should take charge, protect his family, not… not letting them all get fooled again by that lying cunt!”

Charlie lit himself a cigarette.

“Arthur`s not a strong as you” he commented casually, putting out the match with a wave of his hand.

“Yeah, well, he should be.” Tommy’s voice came out weaker than he intended.

Silence. There wasn’t much more to say, and Tommy knew it.

All he had to do was wait. Wait for something bad, knowing it was going to happen, and just wait. And when it happened, he’ll fix it. That was it.

 

He lazily threw the empty bottle to the side, biting his lip, wondering if that was all his life would be.

Charlie patted him in the knee, standing up, calling it a night. ”Cheer up,kid. That frown does not become you. You wanna stay?”

“No. I’ll just go home. In a bit.” he said, rubbing his eyes.

When Charlie was gone, ,Tommy stood up, and went to check on the horses. They both were still awake, Curly sleeping peacefully in some hay next to them.

How Tommy wished he could be a horse sometimes. No worries, no problems. Just happy and contempt, able to run so fast nobody could ever catch him.

After bidding the horses goodnight, he decided to take a walk through the canals. The night was dark, and only the crickets could be heard.

It was just him with his thoughts. Why couldn’t he stop chewing on his rage? The night, the peace of the night, the crickets and the sound of running water, and still he couldn’t forget-

 

“Where are you, come on! We’re gonna get in so much trouble!”

It was a whisper, loud enough to want to be heard.

“Please, I know you’re around here somewhere!”

It was a woman. Or a girl. Tommy could barely see, but he distinguished a shadow a few feet away from him. The bright moon helped him define a small silhouette leaning into the walls next to the canal, peeking inside the arcs of the canal.

He slowly approached, a little concerned about the girl’s carelessness. She seemed to be all alone, not really paying attention to anybody who might approach her.

“Who’re you looking for?” he said, his voice huskier than usual from the cold.

The girl jumped, almost knocking her head with the wall. Tommy was glad the darkness hid his grin.

“Don’t come any closer, I have a knife” she muttered.

“I sure hope so” he laughed. He approached her, putting his hands up, showing her he meant well.

“I’m serious, stop right there!” She sounded much to young to be wandering alone through the canal at that time of night.

Tommy sighed. “Don’t ever bluff about knives. If you don’t have one, just run.”

Faster than he’d expected, she reached to her pocket and grabbed a fairly small blade. It was almost comically small. Almost.

“Isn’t that a bit… poor?” Tommy asked, unable now to hide the smile from his voice.

“‘S big enough to cut your eyes or your balls” she barked, gaining confidence, weapon in hand.

Tommy chuckled. She was brave. They stared at each other’s figures, not able to really see each other’s faces, for a few seconds. Tommy finally put his hands down, leaning against the wall, the arch of the canal the only distance between them.

“So… you lost your boyfriend?” he asked, patting his pockets for his pack of smokes.

“What?”

“You were calling for someone” he said, taking a cigarette between his lips.

She seemed unsure about her answer, so he reached for the matches, only to remember he didn’t have any. Well, fuck.

“I’m looking for my sister” she said, still holding her knife in front of her.

Tommy nodded. He was fairly sure the was nobody else around.

“You won’t happen to have a light” he asked, pointing to his mouth.

He could feel how hard she was trying to actually see his face. He could almost see her squinting. After a moment of deliberation,she lowered her knife and reached into her pocket, tossing a pack of matches at his feet.

He couldn’t help but smile. She was really something.

He lit one up and slowly lit his cigarette, looking at her and hoping she would see in his eyes he meant her no arm. He kept the match in his hand, in front of him, and slowly took a step towards her.

“You smoke?” he asked, slowly raising the light towards her face, only close enough to make out her features.

She was young. She probably wasn’t even eighteen. Curly dark hair short above her ears, her eyes were big, dark brown. Her face was angulous, showing promise for great womanly features once the baby fat from her cheeks were gone.

She blew out the match, and Tommy blinked, realizing he’d been staring at her a tad too long.

“I know who you are” she said, taking a step back, raising her knife again. “You’re one of the Shelby boys.”

Tommy nodded. “That I am” he said, taking a drag and letting the smoke escape from his lips. ”And I think your sister is not around here.”

The girl looked around, knowing it was true. She lowered the knife, this time for good, and put it back in her pocket.

“I’ll be going then” was all she said, turning around and walking quickly.

Tommy followed her, walking next to her. She was fairly shorter than him, although he assumed she probably had a couple more inches to grow.

“Don’t follow me.” She sounded pissed, but not scared. She was determined, didn’t bother looking at him, power walking with her arms crossed.

Tommy stopped in his tracks. “I just wanted to give you back your matches” he said. He was greatly proud of quick he’d come up with that one.

“Keep ‘em!” she shouted, not turning around.

Before Tommy could think of something to say, she was already up the steps that led to the street, and just like that he was all alone.

He stood there -like an idiot- until the cigarette died in his hands. Turning around, lighting another one, he realized he didn’t even know the girl’s name.

And as he walked through the familiar streets leading to his home, he also realized he’d completely forgotten about everything else. Too bad it wouldn’t last long.

He knew something bad was gonna happen the next day, with his father at home.He knew he’d be angry, and he knew he’d probably storm off to stop himself from breaking his voice screaming at his relatives. He knew he’d end up in Charlie’s yard again.

But he could only wonder if he’d meet the girl again, maybe having her making him forget about his problems for a while.

Maybe, just maybe, something good could happen for once.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!


End file.
